Protecting Reilly
by Aaunty Pasta
Summary: Frank is invited to an art opening by an old friend of his wife and attends out of obligation. He soon finds himself taken hostage by a group intent on getting a mob leader out of prison and finds himself protecting the young artist he met only minutes before. As they work together to escape, he begins to wonder who is protecting whom.
1. Chapter 1- The art show

Protecting Reilly

Frank is invited to an art opening by an old friend of his wife and attends out of obligation. He soon finds himself taken hostage by a group intent on getting a mob leader out of prison a finds himself protecting the young artist he met only minutes before. As he they work together to escape, he begins to wonder who is protecting whom.

When you read, if you could please leave a review, that would be great. I just want to know if this is worth finishing.

Frank/OC Action.

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Frank adjusted his bow-tie and smoothed the vest to his suit before pulling the black jacket over it. The tux came out of his closet a lot more than he would have liked since he took the job of Police Commissioner, but tonight, he didn't mind as much. Edna Barnett had made the invitation personally and because she had been a friend of his wife, Mary, he felt obligated to say yes.

At the bottom of the stairs stood his date for the evening, granddaughter Nikki, dressed to the nines and looking very much like her mother. "Thanks for going to this thing with me kiddo," Frank said when he reached the bottom.

"I know mom would have liked to go," Nikki said as Frank pulled on his coat. "But this case she's working on is of international significance." She shrugged. "Plus, I think she wants me to start doing this kind of stuff anyway."

"If I have anything to say about it," Frank began. "We won't be there long."

"Long enough to meet Mrs. Barnett, I hope," Nikki stated as Frank opened the door. On the other side stood one member of his security detail with an open umbrella to protect them from the rain.

Jim Nucifero held the umbrella over their heads until they got to the SUV where he opened the door for them to get in, closing it behind them. Wordlessly, he shut the umbrella and got into the front seat next to the driver.

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Reilly paced in the private room as Mrs. Barnett looked out the window. "I think I'm going to be sick," she said.

She was dressed in an elegant gown and uncomfortable heels. As a tomboy all her life, she had never worn such a gown and her feet were used to flip flops and tennis shoes. Every few steps she would stumble, catching herself before she could fall.

"You have no reason to be sick," Mrs. Barnett told her. "This is the Whitney. Not the Guggenheim or the Met."

"Still nervous," Reilly said as she held up a finger then stumbled again. "And I wish you had let me get the flats."

"These make you look graceful and elegant," the older woman told her as she reached up to touch her cheek.

The diminutive Mrs. Edna Barnett had been widowed more than 25 years before and left with a fortune so massive that she could never spend it all. Instead, she spent it on people who needed it and who, like Reilly, had talent. She had sponsored writers, musicians, actors and artists in the ensuing years. Now, she was assisting and encouraging Reilly in her endeavors. The younger woman was in her early forties but was a rare gifted artist and writer who had not yet been brought into the public light. After a successful show in her hometown of Billings, Montana, Edna was sure she would light the world on fire in New York.

Reilly, on the other hand, had always hated her work. As a photographer, she could never put enough realism into her paintings to be happy with them, never showing or selling them on a scale larger than the local craft fairs. But the insurmountable Edna Barnett had encouraged her to do landscapes in abstract and people, where she had more strength, in a more realistic manner. It had worked and although still unhappy with her art, she was more satisfied with the results.

The door opened and the show curator, Donald Morton leaned in. "It's time, Miss Phelan," he said with a charming smile.

Reilly took a deep breath and smoothed the deep purple dress she wore. Reilly was the opposite of Mrs. Barnett, tall and built, but still slim. She towered over most women and, in the heels she wore, some men, too. Her reddish-brown hair fell to a place somewhere in the middle of her back and was held back by two amethyst jeweled barrettes. Over her shoulder hanging from a strong silver chain was a purple velvet purse large enough to hold a couple of snacks and a bottle of water- and the tinted lip-gloss that Mrs. Barnett had insisted upon. The dress was silk of a royal purple but in a basic cut and with the straps that would hide the brassiere she needed to keep her ample bust from escaping the low cut dress.

She took a second deep breath, squared her shoulders and followed Mrs. Barnett from the room.

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"I've never been to anything like this before," Nikki said as she walked off the elevator on her grandfather's arm. "It's so elegant."

Frank smiled. "I don't usually like going to these things," he admitted. "But getting to see it through the eyes of someone who has never been is making it more fun."

Nikki grinned up at him. "I'm glad I could help," she said.

At the end of the room, empty save for numerous art pieces on the wall and several benches in places conducive to viewing the art, near where they stood the curator stepped forward. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I have you attention please!"

As the room quieted of chatter and looked his way, he began. "I hope you are enjoying the unusual artwork," he said. "The woman who created these colorful abstract landscapes has been recently discovered by philanthropist and art sponsor, Mrs. Edna Barnett." He waved his hand to the older woman behind him. "Mrs. Barnett." He turned the audience over to her.

"I discovered this artist on a visit to the mountains of Montana," she began. "On a chance trip to a craft fair in Billings, I came across a booth full of artwork so wonderful I couldn't decide which piece I wanted to buy. So I bought them all," she said as she waved her hands in the air to a laugh from the crowd. "Upon meeting the artist," she went on after the laughter had died. "I knew she would be the next to be sponsored by the Barnett Guild. Ladies and gentlemen," she waved her hand to the woman behind her. "Reilly Sue Phelan."

Nikki could tell that the woman was uncomfortable as she stepped forward. "Thank you," she said, her voice shaking. "I'm…um… honored to be here to show my artwork." She paused to look at the floor then back to the crowd. "Thank you for your … uh, attendance." She smiled a tight-lipped smile and nodded. As the room began to applaud she looked like she wanted to hide.

"She looks like she's not having a good time at all," Nikki commented.

"No she doesn't," Frank agreed. "You want to go see if we can cheer her up?"

"Why not?" Nikki replied.

Together, they made their way over to where she was exchanging pleasantries with a patron. The man shook her hand with a nod and moved off to examine the artwork behind her.

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Mrs. Barnett grasped Reilly's elbow. "Someone I want you to meet," she said as she turned her toward an approaching man with a much younger woman on his arm.

The man was just under a head taller that her so she had to lift her head to look in his sparkling brown eyes. Besides the bushy mustache, he was ruggedly handsome and looked as if he would be as comfortable camping in the mountains as he seemed to be in the classy art museum opening.

The girl on his arm was very young, but the sparkle in her eyes was so much like his that Reilly was sure she was related to him. Daughter or, maybe, granddaughter.

"Frank!" Mrs. Barnett said as she spread her arms wide for a hug. "It's been forever!"

Frank bent down to hug the much shorter woman. "That it has," he said. "Have you met my granddaughter, Nikki?"

"I haven't had the pleasure," Mrs. Barnett replied and turned to shake Nikki's hand. "You're Erin's daughter, aren't you?"

"Guilty," Nikki replied with a smile.

"Nikki, this is Edna Barnett," Frank introduced. "But everybody calls her Mrs. Barnett out of respect."

"Respect for your husband?" Nikki queried.

"Respect for the fact that Edna is a horrible name," she said conspiratorially. She hooked Nikki's arm into her own and pulled her toward the woman standing a few paces behind her who looked like she wanted to do nothing more than escape. "Reilly," Mrs. Barnett began. She waved towards Frank. "This is Police Commissioner Frank Reagan and his charming granddaughter, Nikki."

"Nice to meet you, Commissioner, Nikki," she said as she shook each hand in turn.

"Call me Frank," he said as she placed her hand in his for a firm but gentle handshake.

"I love your work," Nikki told her. "It's not what I expected when I heard abstract landscape."

Reilly shrugged. "I'm glad you like it." She looked around at the people enjoying her work. "I never thought so many people would enjoy it."

"It's different," Nikki replied.

"What about you, Commissioner?" Reilly asked. "Do you like it?"

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Frank looked around at the pieces nearest the small group. "They aren't exactly my style," he said. "But I can tell what they are supposed to be."

Reilly nodded as if she almost agreed with him. "I suppose they are realistic enough for people who don't care much for art to enjoy," she said. "Yet abstract enough for art lovers to take their time and try to discover a meaning behind why I drew or painted it that way."

Mrs. Barnett suddenly grasped Nikki's hand. "Let me show you my favorite." She pulled the girl away as she smiled back at her grandfather.

Frank turned back to Reilly. "Is there a meaning behind your work?"

"I love the mountains and the rolling hills," she replied then groaned and put her head in her head. "Oh hell," she moaned. "Now I'm talking in song lyrics from my childhood."

Frank chuckled. "I hear there's an open bar," he said. "If you'll point me in that direction, or better lead me there, maybe we can take a bit of the edge off."

"I'm not much of a drinker," she replied. "But a glass of wine would be nice right about now." She took the offered arm. "It's upstairs." She began to lead him in that direction when she noticed Jim following them. "What's with the tail?"

Frank glance back to see Jim looking slightly amused but still with an unsmiling exspression fall in step behind them. "That would be my security detail," he said. "Does that make you nervous?"

"Now that I know he isn't stalking either of us," she said. "No."

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"Now don't they make a lovely couple?" Mrs. Barnett asked Nikki.

Nikki looked up from her examination of a pastel piece labeled 'Indian Paintbrush at Heart Mountain' to look in the direction that the older woman was facing to find that her grandfather had taken Reilly's arm and they were making their way through the crowd toward the elevator.

"You're right, they do," Nikki said with a smile. "Where are they going?"

"Probably to the bar upstairs," Mrs. Barnett replied. "What say we join them?"

Nikki nodded. "Sure," she replied as Mrs. Barnett once again hooked her arm into Nikki's. Together, they turned to head toward the elevator.

In the distance, they could see the elevator open to admit Frank and Reilly and the couple stepped on as Nikki and Mrs. Barnett stepped up the pace hoping to ride up with them. Jim moved to follow them only to be pushed violently to the floor, the door closing before he could get up and stop whatever was happening.

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Gentleman that he was, Frank stopped to allow Reilly to get on first then followed her into the lift with a hand at the small of her back. It was then that he noticed the two armed men. He grasped Reilly's arm to yank her back out but was pushed forward into the car by one man while the other hit Jim, knocking him back and onto the floor. The man that had forced him into the car hit the close door button and the door closed between the group and the party.

Frank put himself between the armed men, both of whom had their guns trained at them, and Reilly as someone on the other side of the door began pounding. The man who had closed the door now pushed the button that would take them down to the basement. He could feel her grip the back of his tuxedo jacket and heard a soft frightened moan escape her lips.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

Neither man said a word, but gestured them out when the elevator came to a stop and opened its doors to the noise of the museum basement. He felt Reilly release his jacket and grip his right hand with both of hers as he tried to keep himself between her and the two guns.

When they didn't immediately move forward one jabbed his gun into Frank's side. "Move!" he demanded.

Slowly, Frank moved forward, keeping himself between the woman behind him and the guns held by the two men.

Out of the elevator car, now held on this floor by the emergency stop button, the men urged them quickly forward and into the loading dock where a dark cargo van waited for them. One opened the sliding door while the other roughly grabbed Reilly's arm.

"No," she began as Frank held her hands tighter and vocalized a gruff, "Don't."

The man with her arm shoved her forward. "Get in the van," he said. "Ladies first."

Reilly looked up at Frank and he nodded her forward.

"Now you," he said as he gestured with his gun.

Afraid more of what they had planned for her than what they had planned for him, he did as he was told and sat on the floor next to the artist. Once he was settled, the man closed the door behind them.

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	2. Chapter 2- Taken

I am closing in on finishing the story and every almost every chapter ends with a cliffhanger. Hope to post a chapter on Mondays and Thursdays until I get them all posted, so enjoy this chapter and the ones to follow.

Forgot disclaimer in chapter 1 so here: Not mine. Belongs to CBS and the rest. I just wanted to borrow for awhile.

Feed the author: Please leave feedback.

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Jim had been struck so violently that the fall to the floor knocked his breath out of him. The struggle to breathe slowed his reaction time and he could only scramble to his feet in time to helplessly pound at the closed elevator door.

He turned and rasped as Mrs. Barnett and Nikki joined him. "Stairs?!"

One of the men nearby that had seen the commotion gestured to the side. "That way. I'll show you."

Jim started to follow before turning back to Frank's shocked granddaughter. "Stay here," he ordered hoarsely then took a deep breath. "You'll be safe with Mrs. Barnett. Call it in. There were two men… armed. That's all I was able to see before they hit me." Then he disappeared through the crowd with the other man.

Nikki pulled her cell phone from her purse and dialed 911. "911 what is your emergency?" came the voice from the other end.

"This is Nikki Reagan-Boyle and I'm at the Whitney museum," Nikki said into the device, her calm voice belying the knots of fear and worry forming in her stomach. "Commissioner Reagan and artist Reilly Phelan have just been taken at gunpoint. Two men hit his security officer and closed them in the elevator. We need police and a send a bus just in case. I think Jim might be hurt." She paused and went on. "Call in Detective Reagan, too, please," her voice shook.

"I'll have them there forthwith," the operator said. "And Nikki…"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"They'll get to him before anything can happen," the voice soothed.

Nikki felt a bit better knowing help was on the way but it didn't stop the knots from tightening.

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Erin took a sip of coffee from her mug and placed it back on the desk. While she had been going through the stacks of evidence against Rory Marco they didn't seem to be getting smaller. Another stack of papers nearby held requests from close to a dozen foreign countries seeking extradition. Frustrated and tired, she pulled the glasses from her face and set them on the desk near the paper mountain. She was beginning to wish she had taken the offer to go to the museum opening with her father and Nikki when her phone rang.

Seeing Nikki's name flash up, she answered, "Hey, Nikki. Having fun?"

"No!" Nikki's voice was full of fear.

Erin sat up straight. "What's wrong?"

"Two armed men were waiting on the elevator when Grandpa and the artist got on," Nikki said. "I don't know what's going on!"

"Where's his security?"

"They hit him and shut the doors," Nikki's voice was breathless. "I think he might be hurt, but he tried to go after them anyway."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Erin said as she grabbed her jacket, purse and keys. "Did you call 911?"

"Yes," Nikki replied. "I had them send an ambulance for Jim and just in case…"  
"He's fine," Erin emphasized to her daughter as she hurried down the hall. "Are you?"

"Mrs. Barnett is here," Nikki told her. "We're keeping each other calm."

Erin jabbed at the elevator down button several times. "Good."

"I told them to call Uncle Danny," Nikki told her.

"Good," Erin said again as she got on the elevator. "If anyone can find them, it's your Uncle Danny. Did you call Grandpa and Jamie?"

"Not yet, but I will if you want me to."

"I'll do it," Erin told her. She hit the button for the underground parking and the doors slid closed behind her. "You just work on staying calm, OK honey?"

"I'll try," she said. "Mom?"

"Still here, Nikki," she replied, wishing she could just transport herself to her frightened daughter through the phone.

"I love you."

"I love you, too," Erin replied, feeling like she didn't tell her father those very words enough. "He'll be fine." The doors opened and she stepped off to walk to her car.

"I know," Nikki said, her mother's optimism loosening the knots just a bit.

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Jim ran down the stairs followed by the man who had led him to the stairs and a security guard that just happened to be an off-duty police officer. He made it in time to see a dark van with no plates on the back peel out of the loading dock area. He gasped as he slid to a stop then bent with his hands on his knees, breathing hard and suddenly in pain. He remembered a pop when he had fallen back and gripped the side where the pain lanced through him.

Around the trio, sirens began to peal. "Back upstairs," Jim told the other two men. "I gotta check Nikki."

They bypassed the elevator and climbed the flights of stairs back to the gathering where he made his way to Nikki. He grasped her arms. "They haven't hurt him." He looked to Mrs. Barnett's worried face. "Or her. They took them."

Nikki nodded. "Are you OK?" she asked the man as he breathed hard.

"I think I broke a rib when I fell," he replied as Nikki examined his eye.

"I told them to send a bus," Nikki said.

"I'll be fine until we get your grandfather back," he said.

"You'll let the paramedics check you out to make sure you'll be OK for the search," Mrs. Barnett insisted. "An injured officer will be of no used to anyone."

Mrs. Barnett moved away to encourage the group of onlookers into the next room where they could be questioned when the police arrived. Nikki could hear the sirens outside and knew it wouldn't be long.

"I failed," Jim said softly.

"You haven't failed yet," Nikki said as she took his hand. "You just haven't succeeded yet, either."

Jim looked at the girl who was suddenly so calm and wise beyond her years. He nodded and let her lead him to a bench near the stair door to wait for her family and the emergency personnel.

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Reilly shivered next to Frank in the cold van so he started to take off his suit jacket to wrap around her bare shoulders. The man in the back with them aimed his gun at them. "She's cold," Frank said. "I'm just taking my coat off to wrap around her shoulders." The man narrowed his eyes but lowered his weapon so Frank could remove his jacket and throw it around Reilly's shoulders.

"What do you think they want?" Reilly whispered as she snuggled into the jacket. It still held the warmth from Frank's body and began to warm her as intended.

"I don't know," Frank replied. "But I have an idea."

Reilly buried her nose in the collar of the jacket to warm it. In the time it took for her to stop shivering, she realized that he had begun shivering. It was extremely cold in the back of that van. Moving closer, she pulled him into the warmth of the jacket so they could share what little protection the jacket could provide from the cold. Frank slid his arm around her so they could share the heat between them.

"Where are you taking us?" Reilly asked.

"None of your concern," replied the man in the back with them. "Just know it'll be a long trip."

"In that case," Reilly began. "They least you could have done was brought a blanket to keep us from freezing to death."

The man in the driver's seat flipped on the heat full blast and it soon spread to the back. "We must keep our collateral alive now mustn't we?"

"Collateral for what?" Frank demanded.

"You'll find out soon enough," the driver replied.

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"I only saw a flash of a gun and tried to act, but the second man in the elevator surprised me by hitting me," Jim was telling Danny while sitting in the back of an ambulance and holding an ice pack to his eye. "I fell to the floor and it knocked the breath out of me but I got up and ran after him anyway." He hung his head. "I still didn't get to him in time."

"The medic says he thinks you cracked a rib," Danny told him. "You did more than anyone could have expected in that condition then went back to Nikki." He looked up as Erin joined them. "You did your job above and beyond."

"Where's Nikki?"

"Inside with the security guard," Jim replied. "Officer Donovan was working security on the terrace when it went down but he's keeping an eye on Nikki now."

Erin took two steps then turned back to him. "Thanks for keeping Nikki safe," she said, then headed inside.

Suddenly, Danny turned back to Jim. "Where's Dad's driver?"

Jim sat up, removing the ice from his face and looked around the parking lot around them. The spot where the other member of Frank's detail had parked and was supposed to be keeping an eye on the vehicle was empty. Jim pulled out his phone, still on silent, to find three messages had been left on his voicemail from him.

He handed it to Danny. "I didn't feel it vibrate," he said.

Danny turned it over in his hand. On the back was a good sized break and held it for Jim to see. "It's broken," he said. "That's why it didn't vibrate. It must have broken when you fell."

Jim took the device and tried to retrieve the messages. "It's not working," he told Danny.

Danny pulled out his own phone and handed it over. "You should be able to retrieve them on mine."

Jim pressed the necessary phone number then code into Danny's phone then put it on speaker so they could both hear.

"Nuciforo," came the voice. "This is Kyle. The call about the kidnapping came through just as I witnessed a dark van pull out of the loading area. I took a chance and followed. No lights or sirens. Headed north. I'll stay on them as long as I can." A click and a beep alerted them to the second message. "We seem to be headed out of the city," Kyle's voice said. "Still headed north. Traffic is thinning out so I'm backing off a bit so they don't notice me." Another beep. "They turned off onto a more secluded road and I lost them. I can keep heading north, but if they saw me following they might have led me to throw me off and doubled back. I'm staying in place by where they turned off in case they do come back this way. Call back with further instructions." Two beeps concluded the messages.

"You pick that guy for the detail?" Danny asked. Jim could only nod his throbbing head. "Good job," Danny told him before stalking off.

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Reilly's head nodded and jerked several times before Frank guided it to his shoulder where she could rest it and possibly doze off. "Rest it there," he whispered the order.

"I don't want to fall asleep," she whispered back but left her head resting on his shoulder. "I want to be awake for what comes."

"We don't know how long it will be," Frank told her. "You'll be more awake later if you get some rest now."

She turned her head to rest her chin on the shoulder. "What about you?" she asked as she breathed in his cologne.

"I'm used to going without sleep now and then," he whispered back. "Just rest and I'll wake you when anything changes."

She put her head back on his shoulder. "You're the boss," she said as she closed her eyes.

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"Sorry, Danny," the tech said. "No prints anywhere."

"OK, Paul," Danny said, rubbing his eyes. "Thanks anyway."

Danny glanced at his watch. One a.m. had long since passed and all they knew as a possibility was north.

Jamie approached from the stairs. "They're done with the interviews," he reported. "Some of the patrons need the elevator to get out."

"They just put it back in service," Danny told him.

"They find anything?"

Danny shook his head.

"Nothing from whoever did this?"

Danny shook his head again.

"Dad can take care of himself," Jamie said, trying to calm both of their nerves.

"It's been a long time since he's been in a situation like this," Danny replied. "And that artist is a wild card. We don't know anything about her."

"Then let's go talk to Mrs. Barnett," Jamie said. "She can tell us what we need to know."

Danny nodded. "How're Erin and Nikki?"

"Worried," Jamie replied as he followed Danny into the elevator and watched as his brother deactivated the emergency stop then hit the 3rd floor button. "Erin has a judge on speed dial in case we need a warrant."

"Did you tell them to go home and get some sleep?"

Jamie shook his head but answered verbally in the affirmative. "I tried to get them to go, but neither one will leave until we get something… anything."

"Right now what we have is a great big nothing," Danny said as his phone began to ring. "Reagan," he answered it.

The elevator door opened on the floor with the party as Danny spoke then hung up. "That was Baez. They definitely went north."

"How can they be sure?" Jamie asked as he followed Danny off the elevator.

"They dumped their phones just after leaving the museum," came the reply. "If they were trying to throw us off, they wouldn't have dumped them so close."

They found Erin and Nikki in a private room near the elevator with Mrs. Barnett, who had fallen asleep on the couch, and Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Garrett Moore.

"Anything?" Garrett asked.

"They definitely went north," Danny reported. "Their phones were located on the side of the road about a block away."

"I'll get in contact with as many police departments in that direction as I can," Erin said as she pulled out her phone.

"This out yet?" Danny asked Garrett.

"I've released the basics, but I don't think it will blow up until morning," Garrett told him.

"What do you know about this artist?"

Garrett looked back at Mrs. Barnett. "Reilly Phelan is an artist, obviously. And a writer. Mrs. Barnett found her in Montana when she went there for Christmas. She shy, almost to a fault, but has a good head on her shoulders." He paused. "If her work is anything to go by, she's a pretty good artist."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah," Mrs. Barnett's voice interrupted and the two men turned to watch her sit up on the couch. "The way she's dressed tonight, those men that took her will probably underestimate her," Mrs. Barnett snorted. "Frank'll likely underestimate her too."

"Why is that?" Danny asked.

"She a tomboy from Montana," Mrs. Barnett replied. "The fancy dress and those heels I regret making her wear might slow her down, but…" she shrugged. "Let's just say the first time I met her she was up a tree." She stood and joined them. "I saw Frank shielding her with his body and I know he would take a bullet to protect her if it came to that…" she paused to let that sink in. "But if they were to piss her off enough, Frank just might have to protect them from HER."

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	3. Chapter 3- Escape and a Long Ride

As per usual, feed the author and leave some feedback.

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Leaning back against the side of the van, Frank felt Reilly stir. She had been asleep for about an hour, but for the last six or so hours of the long ride, they had both dozed without ever falling fully asleep. Any unusual bump had roused them, but the last hour, while Frank had been awake craning his neck to see out the front windshield, Reilly had finally fallen into a fitful sleep.

"Do you know where we are?" Reilly asked as she stretched. She now wore Frank's jacket outright and although she swam in it, it fit better than Frank would have expected.

"Maine," Frank replied. "I caught a look out the windshield at a sign a while ago. I think we're somewhere around Portland. We turned off onto a dirt road about half an hour ago."

"Somehow I get the feeling this is the end of our journey," Reilly said as they craned their necks to look out the windshield. The van was driving up to an old barn and stopped next to the door.

"Not quite," the man in the driver's seat said. "Just a place to refuel and dump the van."

"You still haven't told us what you want," Frank demanded.

"You don't need to know," the man said as he pulled the door open to get out. "Your daughter, on the other hand, does."

The man in the passenger seat got out and pulled the sliding door open. Their hostages squinted against the bright sunshine. Before their eyes could acclimate, they were pulled from the vehicle. Inside the barn, they were pushed into what had once been a tack room with a wooden floor. The only thing in the room was a broken table and a frayed, old rug on the floor. Before leaving them alone, they bound them both using plastic ties, hands behind their back then pushed them to the floor to be bound by their feet with the same strong plastic ties. They were then left alone.

"What do you think that was about?" Reilly asked.

"I may know," Frank replied. "Erin's working on a case with international ties. Some international crime syndicate that Interpol has been trying to break and WE have the head."

"Can Erin get him released?"

"I don't think so," Frank replied. "But I think they know that." He took a breath. "Maybe I shouldn't be talking about this."

"Knowledge is power," Reilly replied.

Frank sighed. "I think they took me so they could get the Governor to arrange for his release."

"Why would they take me?"

Frank was silent for a moment. "To control me by threatening your life."

"You don't even know me."

"True," Frank said. "But I stepped between them and you in the elevator. They may have planned to take Nikki, but when I made that protective move…" he shrugged.

"They decided that I'd do. Great," Reilly said. "How long do you think we'll be here?"

Frank looked around the stark room. "They haven't eaten on the trip any more than we did, so they may have stopped to eat." He paused at Reilly's stomach making noises. "And apparently you're hungry, too."

"I doubt they'll give us any food or water," she said. "But I have some peanut butter wafer snacks in my purse and a bottle of water." At Frank's look she shrugged. "I wasn't sure I'd like the fancy hors d'oeuvres Mrs. Barnett had ordered for the opening and I didn't want to go hungry."

They were silent for awhile. "Now what?" Reilly finally asked.

"Now we plan an escape," Frank replied.

Reilly looked to him. "What do you suggest?"

"Find a way back to the van," he replied. "First we have to get out of these ties."

Reilly took a deep breath. "OK," she said and squirmed until her hands were under her knees as Frank watched with fascination. Taking a moment to rest, she took a breath and lifted her legs to pull her hands to a position in front of her. "Think you can do that?" she asked.

"I'm not as flexible as you are, but I'll give it a try," Frank replied.

"If you can't," Reilly said as she took the plastic end of the tie in her mouth and tightened it with a grunt. "I have a knife in my purse."

"What?!"

"I couldn't find a dress purse big enough to keep the snacks and bottle of water so I made one myself," Reilly told him as she checked how tight her hands were then again used her teeth to pull the tie tighter.

"What are you doing?"

"Breaking the tie," she raised her hands and struck them over her bent knee, successfully breaking the binding and freeing her hands. She then dug into her small purse and pulled out a small pen knife. "Anyway," she went on with her previous thought. "I sewed a little pocket into the lining for my knife and a tiny flashlight." She pulled out a tiny light and turned it on and off. She opened the knife and cut the tie on her legs before turning to Frank.

He leaned forward and let her cut the bindings on his hands then rubbed his wrists as she moved to cut the ties on his legs. "Why the light?"

"You must know how dark some of the interior rooms get in some buildings when the power goes out," Reilly said.

Frank nodded in understanding as she cut through the plastic binding his feet.

Frank stood to look out the window and get the lay of the land as Reilly unbuckled her shoes and tossed them aside. Frank turned back to see her pulling up the hem of her dress and she immediately dropped it again.

"Turn around until I say," she ordered. "I've got to take off these pantyhose." He turned back to the window. "They itch."

Frank watched a squirrel scamper from one tree to another until she gave him the all clear. "I must be a mess," she said as she shoved the hose into her purse and pulled the loose barrettes from her hair to join the hose in her purse. "I wish I could tie my hair back." She suddenly snorted and took out the hose again. She used the knife to cut off a chunk then shoved it all back in except the piece she had cut off. She stretched it and pulled the long strand, tied it in a loop and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

"Clever," Frank said with a chuckle.

She took a breath and walked around the room, pushing the broken table aside. As she stepped back the floor suddenly gave way. Frank rushed forwards and caught her before she could fall through the rotted flooring… but not flooring.

"My hero," Reilly said as they pulled her leg from the hole.

She stepped back as Frank knelt to examine the hole. He turned to look at her in surprise. "It's a trap door."

Reilly knelt as Frank moved the rug and broken door aside and looked down. She pulled out her light to hand to him and he shined it into the hole. The bottom was only about four feet down, but a tunnel went off into the dark at their right.

"Underground railroad?" Reilly wondered out loud. "Prohibition?"

Frank dropped down into the hole and pulled out an old bottle with a small amount of brown liquid in the bottom and a rotting cork haphazardly sealed with wax. "Maybe both," he said as he held it up. "Either way, it's our ticket out."

Reilly stood and helped him adjust the trap door into place and slid the rug so it would cover the door when they closed it. She then joined him in the close hole and closed the trap behind them. In the dim light from Reilly's flashlight, Frank found a wood beam long enough to wedge so the door would not fall in again as Reilly hitched her skirt above her knees so she could crawl. Together, they turned and began crawling down the dark tunnel.

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Danny, Jamie and Jim joined up with Ben Kyle, the security detail driver, just south of Boston. Then they headed into Boston to meet with a pair of detectives there.

"Detective Tony Ferro," the large African-American introduced himself then pointed to his partner. "Penny Barrow." They shook hands and introduced their group before Ferro went on. "We started watching for the van when we got the call from ADA Reagan," he said. "We found it, followed and passed the chase on into New Hampshire State PD who then passed it on to Maine."

"They still in Maine?" Danny asked.

"Don't know," Penny put in. "They haven't called back yet."

"Look," Ferro began as the New York group began to look dejected. "They'll get back to us soon. In the meantime you guys have got to be starving. Let us buy you some breakfast."

"US?" Penny said. At Ferro's sharp look, she nodded. "Yeah, OK."

Later, Danny was polishing off a last cup of coffee when Ferro's phone finally rang. After a brief one-sided conversation, Ferro hung up.

"Good news and bad news," he began. "Good news is they think they are somewhere just north of Portland."

"They think?!" Jamie asked.

"That's the bad news," Ferro went on. "That's where the lost them. They went into the back woods and disappeared. The roads go on forever out there." Danny hung his head so Ferro went on. "They have them cut off. They can't go any further north or the Maine police will pinch them."

"Yeah," Danny said with a gesture to the window. "But they're near the coast. If they get on a boat, they'll be gone. They could dump dad and the girl overboard and we'd never see them again."

"I'll call the coast guard," Penny said as she pulled out her phone.

"See, we're on top of things," Ferro said. "Why don't you head to Portland and I'll call them back and give them your number. That way when they find the van, they can call you directly."

Danny nodded and stood, while the rest of the group followed suit. "Thanks for breakfast," he said.

"While I'm on with them, I'll be sure to tell them to get them some breakfast when they find them," Ferro said. "And they WILL find them."

Danny gave him a jaunty salute and followed the rest of the group out.

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Nikki sat on the landing in her grandfather's house and waited. While disappointed that the wonderful evening and one-on-one time with her grandfather had been interrupted so abruptly, they WAY it had been interrupted was worse and made her worry. Her cousins, Jack and Shawn, joined her in what she considered to be her and her grandfather's special talking spot. Jack put an arm around her and she put her head on his shoulder.

"You can cry," Shawn said. "It might help."

Nikki smiled at her cousin's words. "I'm all cried out."

"Do you think he's OK?"

"Mrs. Barnett seemed to believe so," Nikki replied as she lifted her head and looked at Jack. "She says Reilly can take care of herself when she really needs to."

"Of course, your grandfather can take care of himself, too," Frank's father, Henry, put in as he joined them. "Why, I'll bet the phone will ring and it'll be him any time now." He smiled at them. "Why don't you three go outside and throw around the ol' pigskin? I'll let you know when the call comes in."

Encouraged by Henry's optimism, Jack and Shawn pulled Nikki to her feet and outside where they got her to throw around a football with them.

"One group taken care of," he muttered. "Now the harder one." He looked toward the sun room where Erin and Linda anxiously watched the news in hopes of catching something about their missing father and father-in-law.

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Frank polished off the peanut butter wafer and took a swig of the bottle of water. His head brushed the top of the passage as he sat just inside the hidden exit. Reilly had suggested a brief rest before exiting the tunnel to get some much needed food and water no matter how small the amount.

He handed the bottle to Reilly and she took a swig before replacing the lid and slipping it back into her purse. "You ready?" he asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Reilly replied.

Together, they pushed on the outer door of the tunnel until it came open, first a crack, then more until there was room for them to crawl through. Frank squeezed through first then helped Reilly through. They let the door fall back down so the exit could not be seen.

"You forgot your shoes," Frank pointed out her bare feet.

"Well, I'm not going back for them," Riley replied. "I'll get farther without them anyway." Looking back at the hole, she suddenly sighed in frustration. "Don't touch anything. We've got to find a water source to wash our hands and my feet."

Frank looked himself. "Poison ivy," he said as he held his hands up. "The bootleggers who used this tunnel must have planted it here to keep people away."

"And we just crawled through it," Riley said. "This is going to be one miserable hike."

Frank grasped her hand, the only part he could safely touch with their contaminated hands. "Let's find that water source before we both start breaking out," he said. "Which way?"

Reilly turned in circles to get her bearings. Where they were was out in the open, while behind the tunnel exit at her left around 500 feet away was the barn, surrounded by trees. To the right across the field, was another stand of trees. In the sky to her right was the sun, telling her that east was that direction.

"That way, east," Reilly pointed to the trees in that direction. "They'll be expecting us to try to go back to the road. But you can smell the ocean, so it must be nearby."

"I'm impressed," Frank said. "East it is."

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	4. Chapter 4-Demands

Feed the author and the dust bunnies under her bed who have been trying to hide the next part of this story from her. Feedback PLEASE!

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Erin might have been worried about her father, but she still had to go to work. Saturdays meant no court, but she needed to go in today to clear the mounds of paperwork on the Marco case from her desk. File after file described atrocities committed by this man and his people. Now Erin had the chance to put him away for life.

When her phone rang, she absently picked it up and looked at it. There was a number, but no identifying information. Hesitantly, she pushed the button to put through the call on the speakerphone. "Hello?"

"Assistant District Attorney Erin Reagan," came a man's gravelly voice. "We have your father."

She sat up and waved frantically to her assistant outside her office. "What do you want?" she asked the voice. To her assistant she wrote the words TRACE NOW on a piece of paper.

"I want your help in convincing the Governor to release Rory Marco."

As her assistant scurried away, she turned her attention back to the phone. She swallowed. "I don't think the Governor would agree to that," she said.

"Try to persuade him," the voice said. "If he is not released within the next twenty-four hours, he will have lost his commissioner and you will have lost your father." Erin gasped. At this, the voice laughed. "Twenty-four hours Ms. Reagan." The phone went dead.

Erin looked up as her assistant slowly came back into view. "Not long enough," the young woman said.

"Damn!" Erin slammed her fist down on the stack of files in front of her.

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"We've got 24 hours," Danny said as soon as he hung up with his sister.

"What do they want?" Jamie asked from the passenger seat beside his brother.

"Some guy named Rory Marco."

"That head of that international crime group Erin's working on?"

"Yeah," Danny said with a side glance at his younger brother. "What do you know?"

"I know that calling the Coast Guard was a good idea," Jamie replied. "The guy runs the whole operation from a boat."

"What kind of boat?"

"Rumor is that it used to be a cruise ship," Jamie replied.

Danny whistled. "There's Maine," he said and pointed to a 'Welcome to Maine sign' as they went by. "Call Nuciforo and let him know the latest development." Jamie pulled out his phone.

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The men from the van opened the door to escort their hostages to the launch that would take them to Marco's ship only to find them gone.

The driver picked up one of the shoes. "Where did they go?! How did they get out?!"

The other shook his head as he fingered the cut bindings. "It does not matter," he said. "We must go after them and get them back before our deadline has passed or we will never get our brother back."

"They'll try to take the van," the other said.

They ran outside toward the van but no trace of them could be found. The first threw up his hands.

"We don't even know what direction they would go," he said.

"There are houses in that direction," the second pointed to the west. "The ocean is to the east and the road is back to the north."

"They would head for the houses, but would not know where they are," the first said. "So they would probably head to the road."

"What if they head to the ocean?"

"They won't. They have neither food nor water and they can't drink sea water," the first pointed out. "Even if they bypass the road, there are fresh water streams to the north where they can get water."

"But they DID have water, Paulo," his companion replied.

"What are you talking about, Juan?"

"When I relieved them of their cell phones, I got into her purse," Juan explained. "I found a couple of some kind of cookies and a partial bottle of water with the phone."

"You should have taken it from her," Paulo replied.

"Hindsight is 20/20, brother," Juan said.

Paulo snorted. "If they have water, then perhaps they did head to the ocean." He nodded in that direction. "Then go along the shore until they find a house." He looked at his brother with determination and an evil glint in his eye. "We will find them then we will teach them what we do to those that cross the Marco family."

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Once they reached the group of trees, Frank and Reilly found themselves at the top of a steady incline. As they started down it, Frank glanced down at her bare feet.

"Are you sure you'll be OK without your shoes?"

"My feet will be fine," she said. "I don't walk in heels very well, so they would have just slowed me…" she turned to him. "Us, down."

"Good point," Frank replied.

They fell silent until Frank spied the water through the trees. They sped up their pace and Reilly sighed with relief as the narrow beach came into view. "I am really beginning to itch," she said and held out her hands to show the rash beginning to form.

"Me, too," Frank showed her his own forming rash.

They reached the shore and Reilly walked out into the water and plunged her hands into the cool liquid. Frank followed in his dress shoes and did the same but jumped when he heard a twig snap behind them.

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Liza Mullins was checking the family camp, winterizing it for the coming season, when her daughter, Anna, alerted her to the strangers. They were the strangest sight she had ever seen. The tall husky man had a bushy mustache and wore a tuxedo sans the jacket with an untied bowtie hanging from his neck while the shorter but also tall woman wore the tuxedo jacket over a purple gown. The woman had her hair tied back and wore no shoes. Liza thought it strange and followed them down to the seashore where they went out into the water and furiously rubbed at their hands.

When the tall man jumped and looked back at her, Liza looked down at her feet to find she had stepped on a stick, snapping it and making the noise that alerted him to her presence. She held a hand out to show that she was friendly when he stepped out of the water and held up his hands saying something she could not read. Anna jumped in and signed for her not to touch them as they had poison ivy oil on their hands.

"Little over-dressed, aren't you," she signed.

The woman suddenly nodded in understanding and Liza could see her tell her companion, "She's deaf."

The man seemed to calm at that and the woman waded out of the water. Then, she spelled out their names for her. The man was Frank. When she finished spelling his, Liza waved an F above her head to show what sign she would use for him. The lady laughed quickly before spelling her own name, Reilly. She tapped the R near her chin for girl name.

"How much sign language do you know?" Liza asked her.

"Just a little," Reilly said, holding her hand up in a sign for little.

Liza nodded and waved for them to follow. "We've got a change of clothes and you can wash the ivy oil off with soap," she signed.

Reilly sighed. "Good," she said.

"What did she say?" Frank asked, as he followed the silent woman and her giggly daughter back up the hill.

"Not sure," Reilly replied. "All I could understand was soap."

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With Anna's help to fill in the holes in Reilly's knowledge of American Sign Language, they were led up the hill and pointed to the kitchen sink where they washed their hands so they could undress without spreading the poison ivy oil. They could then take turns in the bathroom shower.

As Frank, ever the gentleman, allowed Reilly to shower first, Anna grilled him and translated for her mother. "How'd you end up out here in the fancy clothes?" she asked.

"We were abducted," Frank replied. "I don't suppose you have a phone, do you?"

"Just Mama's," she replied. "It's set up for text only. And we don't get much of a signal out here."

"That should be fine," Frank told her. "I want you to take my companion and drive in to the nearest town. You can text my son as soon as you get a signal. Do you have some paper and something to write with?"

Anna nodded and crossed over to a table next to the door where she grabbed a pen and pad and brought them back. He wrote Danny's cell number and Nuciforo's number then a short message. "Can you give me an address for this place?"

"I can do better," Anna took the pen from him and wrote GPS coordinates under his message. "I learned to do GPS at camp this summer and figured out how to do the coordinates for this camp."

"Smart," Frank smiled at her and he looked up to find that Reilly stood nearby in a loose flannel shirt and baggy jeans. He face had been scrubbed clean of the smeared makeup from last night and she wore a pair of ratty tennis shoes on her feet. "Very nice," he said.

"They don't have hot water out here," she said with a shiver. "So expect a bracing shower."

Frank stood and went through the door she had just come through. Seconds later, he dropped his pants, socks, vest and shirt on the floor outside where Liza picked them up with hands protected by rubber gloves. She put their clothing in a big trash bag and promised to take them into the town of Freeport to get them cleaned at the dry cleaner. In the meantime, she had made a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage. By the time Frank came out of the bathroom in jeans and a flannel shirt that were both too short, Reilly had talked them into heading into the town without her and before he could make her go with them.

Reilly placed a plate of food in front of Frank then set the other plate she held in front of herself. "Where are Anna and Liza?" he asked as he took a bite of egg.

"They went into town," Reilly said, matter-of-factly, as she sat down with her own eggs and sausage.

Frank slammed down his fork. "Dammit! I wanted you to go with them!"

"We have to stay together," Reilly said then held her hand up to staunch his protest. "We don't know if your theory is correct or if they were after me to extort money from Mrs. Barnett and you got in the way." She took a bite of eggs before going on. "There's only two things I know for certain right now."

"What is that?" Frank asked.

"One," she began as she fidgeted with her fork. "We make a pretty good team and we'll be more likely to make it through this together than alone."

"And two?"

"I forgot I don't like eggs," she replied and put down her fork.

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Danny's phone signaled in the silence of the car.

"Check that, will you?" Danny told his brother as they passed a sign that welcomed them to Freeport.

Jamie grabbed his brother's cell from the center console and checked it. "That's strange."

"What?"

"It's a text from an unfamiliar number," Jamie replied.

"What does it say?"

Jamie opened and read it aloud to his brother. " 'Son. Please don't hurt my family in effect but got away and am safe for now. Please let Mrs. B know. We're at the following.' Then there are GPS coordinates," he said. "It's signed F and R."

"Call Nuciforo and let him know," Daniel told him.

"No need," Jamie said. "He sent it to him, too."

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	5. Chapter 5- Rescue almost

Man, are those bunnies vicious! They almost wouldn't give me this chapter but I surprised them in the laundry room and wrestled it out of them. They would still like some feedback, though, so please give some to me!

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After getting the call from the kidnappers, Erin had found work impossible and returned to the home her father and grandfather shared to make calls to Garrett, the Governor, the Mayor and several others who might be able to help. The whole area of New England was alive and looking for the New York City Police Commissioner.

Nikki was staying close to her mother, hoping to hear something as it happened and when Erin's phone rang and it was Jamie, she perked up.

"Are you sure it was from him?" Erin asked. She sighed heavily with relief and put a hand to her chest. "Thank God."

Nikki retrieved the rest of the family from the sunroom. They arrived in time for her to thank Jamie and say, "I love you. Tell Dad I love him, too, when you get to him." Erin paused long enough for her brother to return the sentiment then said, "Goodbye."

"What's the news?" Henry asked.

"Dad texted Danny."

Sighs of relief were all around, but Henry asked, "They're sure it was him?"

"He gave our code phrase," Erin said. "Please…"

"Don't hurt my family," everyone finished with her.

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Danny pulled into an open parking spot right in front of the Freeport Police station and he and Jamie got out as Nuciforo and Kyle pulled into the empty space next to them. Jim's black eye had turned dark in the ensuing hours but he had not complained a word.

Inside, they let the officer at the reception desk know who they were and he pointed them to a nearby room where a woman and a young girl waited with the police chief.

"Danny Reagan," Danny introduced himself then introduced the rest of them in turn as he waved to them. "This is my brother Jamie and my dad's security detail Jim Nuciforo and Ben Kyle."

"Chief Ned Gold," he introduced as he shook Danny's hand. He pointed to the woman and her child. "That's Liza and her daughter, Anna. They're the ones who sent your father's text for him. Liza's deaf but her daughter can translate."

Danny turned to them. "Where is he now?"

Anna answered for her mother. "At our camp," she said. "It's about a thirty minute drive out past the end of Bunganuc Landing road."

"There any docks out there?" Danny asked.

"Plenty," Anna replied. "There's one down from our camp that we use all the time."

"I know where it is," the chief told them. "Why did he stay out there?"

"If I know my dad," Danny said with a side glance at Jamie. "It's to stay out of sight of the guys that took him."

"He would have still sent the girl they took with him, though," Jamie put in.

Danny turned back to Liza and her daughter. "Why did they do that?"

Liza began signing as Anna translated. "Reilly told us to go while he was in the shower."

"They got so dirty escaping that they felt the need to shower?"

"Their escape route included a patch of poison ivy," Anna told them. "Trust me. They would not have been showering if it hadn't been necessary." She paused to shrug. "There's no hot water at the cabin right now."

Liza tapped her daughter's shoulder and signed something else to her. Anna nodded and turned back to Danny. "We gave them some clothes to wear while we take theirs to the cleaners," she told them. "We dropped them off before we came here."

Danny looked puzzled. "Their clothes would have had residue from the ivy," Jamie explained. "If they had put them back on without cleaning, they'd have just started itching again."

Danny nodded in understanding as the chief stood. "I'll take you out there and get them," he said.

"Let's go," Danny replied.

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"Is there some reason you texted that?" Reilly asked as they washed the dishes in the cabin's tiny kitchen.

"Please don't hurt my family," Frank said. "It's a code phrase for my family. Basically, it's telling them to get down so we can shoot the bad guy holding them hostage. But this time it was me proving that I was the one texting."

"Smart," she said and handed him the last dish to rinse and put in the drainer. She looked at the clock on the wall. "They've been gone for almost two hours," she said.

"Anna said it was a half hour drive, there then back," Frank said as he put the dish in the rack. "Then they insisted on taking our clothes to the cleaners then the stop at the station…" he looked at the clock figuring. "It shouldn't be too much longer."

Reilly followed him into the small living room where he began to examine the book shelves. "I'd suggest reading one of these books, but you probably wouldn't get far…" he stopped when Reilly grabbed his arm.

"I just saw movement," she said and pointed out the window. Frank grasped her hand and put himself between her and the window as he ducked low to look out. "Please be a deer," Reilly whispered.

Suddenly, Frank blew out the breath he had been holding with relief. "Squirrel," he told her and straightened up.

Reilly closed her eyes and turned away with an embarrassed smile. She opened them back up and looked up at him. "I'm sorry about that," she said.

"Don't be embarrassed," Frank told her. "You're just being alert."

Reilly pulled an errant strand of hair from her face and wrapped in into her ponytail, now held with an actual hair tie, and watched the squirrel out the window. When she turned to say something more, she found that he was closer than she had thought. The errant hair fell down again and this time he caught it and pushed it behind her ear before leaning in for a kiss.

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The police car leading the convoy braked in the middle of the road and the Chief and his officer got out so Danny and Jamie followed suit only to be joined by Jim and Kyle from the PC's SUV at the back of the group. They found that a tree had fallen across the road, blocking access to the vehicles.

"We can't go any further in the cars," the chief said. "We could go around, but it'll take time." He headed to the back of his SUV. "I've got a chain saw. That'll take time, too. But not as much."

"How far is the house?" Jamie asked.

"About two more miles down the road," they were told.

"Let's hoof it," Jamie said with a gesture to the road on the other side of the tree.

"You up for it?" Danny asked Jim.

Jim nodded sharply, once. "I'm in."

"I'll stay with the cars," Ben said.

"I don't think it'll take long to get enough of the tree out of the way to get through, but if walking makes you feel useful," the chief began. "Go ahead. But pull your cruiser off to the side so your SUV can get past."

Danny pulled the cruiser to the side as Jim retrieved a bottle of water for each of them from the back of the SUV. "The afternoon is supposed to get hot," he said as he handed the brothers each a bottle.

Before they could start out, the chief stopped them. "This is not your jurisdiction," the chief said then held up a hand to stop Danny's protest. "But consider this your authorization to do whatever may be necessary if you run into the guys that took them."

Danny saluted him with the water bottle and they started on their way.

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The kiss was brief and when Frank pulled away Reilly took a step back. He looked like he couldn't believe what he had just done, but the tingling of her lips told her he had.

Frank Reagan had kissed her.

She took another step back and put a hand to her mouth. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement out the window once again. This time, Frank saw it, too.

He had turned away to look out the window to contemplate what he had just done when he saw a man run from one tree to another. A second man was standing behind the first tree looking through a pair of binoculars. He turned back to tell her to take cover in time to see her disappear into the kitchen so he ducked down so he couldn't be seen from their vantage point. Reilly returned, ducking low as well, a few seconds later. She had a five pound fire extinguisher in her hand.

"You have a plan?"

Reilly nodded. "Contrary to popular belief," she said. "This is NOT a uni-tasker." She stopped to break the seal and pull the pin. "I'll empty it in their faces and you knock them to the ground."

"Then what?" Frank asked skeptically.

"Hopefully they'll drop their guns," she replied. "We can improvise from there."

"What if you don't get both of them with the contents of that extinguisher?"

She shrugged. "I'll throw it at them?"

Frank rubbed his eyes in frustration. "I know," Reilly said. "It's a bad plan."

"Only the backup plan," Frank said as he moved over to the other side of the door.

After that, the silence was deafening as they waited for what was ahead.

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"They are definitely in there," Paulo said as he looked through the binoculars he held.

"Is there anyone else in there?" his brother asked. "It will be easier if we don't have to kill anyone."

Paulo looked back through the binocs and moved them around to check the whole camp. "I don't see anyone." He dropped them to the ground at his feet as he didn't need them anymore

"Then let's go," Juan said. He moved to the next tree.

Paulo took out his gun and made sure there was a round in the chamber before he followed.

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A squeak outside from the top step alerted Frank to their presence and Reilly moved to look out the window just long enough to confirm that it was indeed their former captors coming after them. She nodded to Frank and he braced himself to knock the men down. Reilly aimed the business end of the fire extinguisher in the direction of the door and put her hand on the trigger mechanism. She took a deep breath as she saw the doorknob begin to turn.

Juan threw the door open and aimed his gun at her. She could see Paulo behind him so she hit the trigger and sprayed at them. When the extinguisher was empty, Frank stepped out from behind the protection of the door and grabbed the blinded and confused man's arm to throw him to the floor and slam the door shut. Frank put a knee in the middle of his back and twisted the arm up to help immobilize him.

"I suggest you release my brother immediately, Commissioner Reagan," Paulo said with the gun pointed at Reilly as she held the empty extinguisher against her chest. "Or your lovely companion will be the one to pay."

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Danny, Jamie and Jim passed a last group of trees and started down an incline where they could see the house. "Finally!" Danny said.

"It's pretty quiet," Jamie said.

"Quiet's good," Danny replied. "At least out here it is."

They picked up the pace as they went down the gentle incline. A low pitched hissing noise suddenly broke through the silence. "What the hell is that?" Danny asked.

"Fire extinguisher," Jim said as the sound stopped.

A minute later, a single crack of gunfire rang out and started all three men running toward the house with their hands on their guns.

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	6. Chapter 6-Safe, I think

One more chapter after this. I promise. I locked the dust bunnies in the vacuum but they are still insisting on feedback, so please send some.

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Reilly stood with the empty fire extinguisher as Paulo pointed the gun at her and spat the threat at Frank. Plan A had not succeeded so she moved on to plan B and threw the extinguisher at their assailant as hard as she could, ducking as she did so. Startled, Paulo fired his gun and the shot ricocheted off the extinguisher, changing its direction enough to miss him. Reilly landed hard on her bottom in shock at the sound.

Frank gasped and released Juan and rushed to Reilly's side as the flower of red began to spread on the shoulder of the faded plaid shirt she wore. He pressed his hand against the wound and looked at her back to see that the bullet had gone through and the blood was spreading on her back, too.

Juan picked himself off the floor and coughed a few times as he looked for his gun, which had gone flying when Frank had tackled him. It was nowhere to be seen.

"Now, Commissioner," Paulo ordered. "You will come with us."

Frank pressed his hands to either side of her shoulder and looked up to spit a refusal at the man but swallowed it before he could.

"He's going nowhere with you," Jim said as he held a gun to the man's head.

"I'd suggest dropping the gun and putting your hands behind your head," Frank said as he spied his sons aiming their weapons at him as well. "Before you both end up dead instead of in a cell next to your brother."

Paulo released the gun and let it hang from his finger where Danny snatched it away. Jim pulled him outside to cuff and search him as Juan put his hands behind his head. Danny pulled him to his feet, cuffed him and pushed him outside for Jim to watch.

Jamie stepped into the room and knelt down next to his father as he held the wounds. "You OK, dad?"

"I'm fine," Frank said. "She's not."

Reilly, in the meantime, struggled to stay calm. At the initial shock, she didn't feel anything due to the adrenaline, but now, knowing they were safe, the pain lancing through her shoulder almost made her pass out. Through the haze, she could see Jim outside with the two, smell the gunpowder and chemical from the fire extinguisher and feel the pain in her shoulder. But she heard Frank's voice clearly telling her she had been shot but would be OK. In the background, she heard other garbled voices and a siren, but Frank was the only thing she could hear clearly. She turned her head to look at him.

"Just breathe," Frank said. "I know it hurts so don't breathe too deeply."

"How do you know?" Reilly finally found some words.

"I'm a cop," he smiled. "Getting shot comes with the job sometimes."

"How bad is it?"

"I don't know," he replied.

Reilly looked around at the mess they had made then through the door where two guys in uniform were taking their former captors away. "What is all this?" she asked.

He smiled at her. "Plan C," he said.

Reilly smiled back through the pain. She looked up to see that Jim now stood in the doorway looking down at them.

Frank followed her gaze to look at his security officer. "You're late," he said, noting silently that he had one hell of an ugly black eye.

"Sorry about that sir," Jim replied. "Won't let it happen again."

"See that you don't," Frank replied with a touch of humor in his voice.

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"Call," Henry said as he threw several chips down in the pot. "Let's see your cards."

Shawn laid his cards on the table, Three 7s, a six and a two. Henry, however, had him beat. Two fours and three queens. "Full house," he announced with a grin as Shawn moaned.

"Now you know why I never play with him any more," Nikki said.

Erin sat at the other end of the table with Linda, both picking at plates of food sent from various restaurants around the city.

"I told you not to engage him in poker," Linda said with a smile.

When Erin's phone rang, everything stopped as she grabbed it and turned it on speaker. "Hello?"

"Erin?" came the familiar voice of her father.

"Thank God, Dad!" She felt as if she could breathe again. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," Frank replied. "How's Nikki?"

Tears of relief streamed down her face. "I'm fine Grandpa," she said.

"Good," Frank replied. "The paramedics are here but we're taking a helicopter back to New York as soon as they get Reilly stabilized."

"What happened to her?" Nikki said with surprise.

"She was shot trying to protect me," he said. Erin could hear the guilt in his voice.

"Is she going to be OK?" Nikki said.

"I think so," Frank said. "Pop, can you call Mrs. Barnett and let her know. She must be worried sick."

"She's only been calling every half hour," Henry replied. "I'll call her when we get done here."

"Linda, you there?"

"Yes, Frank,"

"We'll be landing at St. Victor's," he told her. "I'd like the first face I see when we land to be yours. Reilly's not likely, but I'd also like you to be there to see her through this."

Linda felt like crying at her father-in-law's words. "I'll leave as soon as we hang up." She sniffed. "How'd you get away?"

"Long story," Frank replied. "It involves crawling through a patch of poison ivy, but I'll tell you the whole thing when I get home."

"Poison ivy?" Erin spoke incredulously. "I thought you said you were fine!"

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"Except for a nasty rash on my hands," Frank said into the phone as he examined the other cotton-gloved appendage. "I'm fine. They put something on them to stop the itching and gave me some gloves to wear, but otherwise…"

"What about Reilly?" Nikki asked as she brushed away the tears. "Does she have it too?"

"She has it worse," Frank said. "She has it on her hands like I do, then from her knees to her feet because of the dress."

"Sounds horrible," Nikki said.

"Yeah, well I have to go," Frank interrupted as they brought Reilly out on a stretcher. "They're bringing her out now. We'll be taking off from a clearing near here and be home in no time." He paused as they brought the stretcher down the stairs. "I'll see you then." He heard a chorus of goodbyes then ended the call.

The flannel shirt had been discarded in the house and she was wrapped in bandages and blankets. Frank grasped her left hand, also gloved in white cotton, and followed along as they headed down the rough path towards where the NYPD helicopter, circling above, would be landing.

"You OK?" Reilly asked.

"I'm fine," He told her. "My son, Jamie, and Jim are going to ride in the copter with us back to the city." He looked back at Danny. "Danny's going to go drive his car back down with my driver following in the SUV. They'll be bringing the Marco Brothers with them."

They stopped at the edge of the clearing to wait for the copter to finish it's landing. The younger of the two men who had come up with Jim smiled at her.

"You Jamie?" Reilly asked and released Frank's hand to shake his.

"That's me," he said.

"Jamie's my youngest," Frank told her as her hand found his once again.

"And I'm his oldest," came a voice from over her right shoulder. When she looked, he held up a hand. "You don't have to let go of his hand on my account."

"Danny," Reilly said as Frank squeezed her hand. "Nice to meet you, too."

The gusts of air and the noise from the aircraft stopped their conversation and Frank moved to protect her from the worst of the wind. Reilly smiled as she noticed that Jamie was doing it, too.

The helicopter touched down and the blades slowed. The group waited for a few minutes more before the paramedics pulled the stretcher to the big doors on the side and waited as the co-pilot came around to open them.

"Sir," he saluted Frank.

"As you were," Frank ordered then released Reilly's hand as the officer pulled another stretcher from the helicopter. He leaned down so Reilly could hear him. "They're going to transfer you to the chopper's stretcher then load you up." Reilly nodded and he stroked her cheek and kissed her forehead before stepping back.

Standing back away from them, Danny and Jamie watched the exchange with fascination. When he kissed her forehead, they looked at each other in surprise.

"There's a story, there," Danny said.

"I can't wait to hear it," Jamie retorted.

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Per Linda's promise to him, she was indeed the first person he saw when he got out of the copter. Her gave her a relieved hug then released her and stepped aside so she could help with Reilly's care. He watched as they unloaded her and headed into the safety of the hospital where he followed with Jim and Jamie close behind.

The rest of the day was a whirl of doctors examining him and his hands and feet, an IV for slight dehydration, instructions for Garrett, Baker, Gormly and Jim, and finally, a visit from his family. Although he would have rather have gone home, he allowed them to keep him overnight for observation for one reason and one reason only. Reilly.

He had asked Lynda to let him know what was going on with her and she had reported some time later that they were taking her into surgery. His hands had begun to throb as things began to calm down so he was given something for the pain and he finally fell into a fitful slumber.

When he woke, he found that Nikki was asleep with her head on the edge of his bed, one hand gripping his. He adjusted and gave it a squeeze, waking her.

"What are you doing here," he asked her.

"I wanted to be here when you woke up," she said. "And I knew you would be getting a report on Reilly as soon as she got out of surgery."

He took a breath and glanced out the window where he could see that night had fallen. "Has she?" he asked.

"About an hour ago," she replied as she sat up and stretched. "They took her to the ICU, but she's stable and awake." She paused to lean forward. "And she's asking about you."

"She alone?" He asked then yawned which Nikki repeated before answering.

"Mrs. Barnett arrived a few hours ago," she told him. "And has been having a nice chat with Linda."

Frank looked over at her. "About what?"

"Her art," Nikki replied, trying not to laugh. "After the news got out about the kidnapping, every piece sold. Except Mrs. Barnett's favorite."

Frank smiled. "Good for her."

They were quiet for a bit, just enjoying each other's company before Frank spoke again. "How are you doing?"

"I'm OK."

"Are you really?" Frank asked.

"It was really scary seeing Jim get hit and you disappearing when the elevator door closed," she said. "But I called it in and everyone was so nice and optimistic that you would be found."

"Reilly was a big help."

"I'm glad she was there," Nikki said.

"I think her being there saved you from being there," Frank told her.

"Really?"

He nodded and squeezed her hand again.

"Mrs. Barnett told us they would underestimate her," Nikki told him.

"They way she was acting at the opening," Frank said. "I did, too." He paused. "At first."

"Mrs. Barnett says she's like that in a crisis, but when everything's over, forget it."

Frank sat up to look at her. "What does that mean?"

"Mrs. Barnett says she has panic attacks," Nikki explained.

"Go see if you can find Linda," Frank told her. "I want to see her now."

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She'd come out of the anesthetic and gone into a full blown panic attack. Everyone had tried to calm her, even the enigmatic Mrs. Barnett, who had a gift for calming the attacks, but all to no avail. The doctor had ordered an anti-anxiety drug, but, while it lessened the anxiety, it didn't completely eradicate it. It only made her sleepy and she fought the sleep. He was about to order a second dose when Linda made the suggestion and he resigned to allow it before trying a second dose of medicine.

She had dozed off then woke with a start again, on the verge of tears, when he spoke.

"Hey," Frank said.

She drew a slow shaky breath before looking over at him. "How long have you been there?"

"About ten minutes."

"How are you?"

"Fine," he replied. He wheeled the chair closer so he could take her bandaged hand in his own bandaged ones. "They're keeping me overnight because of the poison ivy." He paused as she looked back at the ceiling and squeezed her eyes shut. "How are you?"

She opened her eyes and looked back at him. "How do I look?" she snapped.

"Like you been through hell," he replied. "And come back."

It was then that she began to cry. Frank stood and made sure his robe was secured before leaning forward to stroke her cheek. "And now you'll be fine." He put his head against hers and let her cry until the tears stopped and she fell asleep.

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	7. Chapter 7- Family Dinner

Blue Bloods isn't Blue Bloods without a dinner scene, so here is the final chapter that begins with a family dinner scene.

As usual, feed the writer!

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"Did you get to visit Reilly this morning before you left the hospital, Grandpa?" Nikki asked.

Frank nodded as he spooned some potatoes on his plate. "I saw her after they moved her into a regular room," he told her.

"Out of ICU?" Jamie asked. "Already?"

"They just kept her there for the night," Linda explained. "After being shot just to be safe." She paused to take a bite. "She wasn't doing too well until she got a visit from Frank."

"Really," Henry said. "Now I really want to meet her. Pass the rolls."

As the basket of rolls headed Henry's way Shawn spoke up. "How long do you have to wear those gloves, Grandpa?"

"Just the rest of the day today, Shawn," Linda answered for him. "The rash is going away OK but they don't want it to become infected.

"What she said," Frank said with a gesture and a grin.

"Do you think Reilly would be up for visitors?" Nikki asked.

"I think she'd like to see you," Frank replied. "She was asking about you this morning."

"Why can't we all go?" Jack asked.

"I don't know if she'd like everyone in there at once," Frank replied. "We can all go to the hospital and see if she'd be up for it, but I think it might be too much for her to handle right now."

"She's an introvert," Nikki said. "Needs time to herself to recharge."

"After this weekend I bet she'll need a week to recharge," Shawn said.

"She was asking Mrs. Barnett about a Liza and Anna," Linda said.

"Liza owns the cabin where we ended up," Frank said with his mouth full. He swallowed. "Anna is her daughter." He took a sip of wine. "I'm afraid we left the place a mess."

"Oh," Linda said matter-of-factly. "Mrs. Barnett had a cleaning crew go to the house and clean it from top to bottom." She took a sip of her own wine as Frank looked to her. "They winterized it, too." She looked sideways at him. "And you forgot your tie in the bathroom."

"I can get another tie," Frank said with a shake of his head.

"Well, Mrs. Barnett made arrangements for them to bring it with them when they bring your Tuxedo and Reilly's dress next weekend," Linda said. "With Reilly's shoes. Courtesy of the Freeport Police Department."

Franks shook his head. "She hates those shoes."

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Reilly flipped through every channel on the TV before she turned it off. Bored, she started playing with her bed. Head up all the way. Feet up. Feet down, head down, up, down, up, down.

Bored with that she tapped her fingernails on the tray.

"Hello," a voice interrupted her drumming.

Reilly looked over to see a tall woman standing in the doorway with a bag in her hand. "Hi," Reilly said. "You must be Erin."

"Guilty," Erin said with a smile. "Nikki won't stop talking about you or your work."

"Nikki's sweet," Reilly said. "What's in the bag?"

Erin laughed. Reilly could see Frank in her when she laughed. She liked that.

"Grandpa sent you something to eat," Erin said. "We've been inundated with food with everything going on and Grandpa didn't think it was fair that you aren't included so he sent a plate." She held up the bag. "Dessert included." Setting it on her tray, Erin pulled the covered dishes out and set them next to the bag. "And because Dad says you aren't a big drinker…" She pulled out a bottle of juice. "The food is notoriously bad here, so… enjoy."

"You're not leaving so soon?' Reilly said as Erin handed her silver wrapped in a cloth napkin and uncover the plates.

"Not if you don't want," Erin said. "But grandpa is out there with flowers and Jack and Shawn want to meet you. Then there is the rest of the family… not to mention, Dad."

Reilly smiled. "You're kidding?"

Erin shook her head. "Things could have gone very bad yesterday," she said. "We could have lost Dad." She shook her head. "Nikki, too, if she had been in your place."

Reilly fidgeted with the wrapped silver. "I don't even know what to say," she said.

Erin took the silver, unwrapped it and placed it on the tray beside the plate and spread the napkin on her lap. Then she raised her head. "Eat," she ordered. "That's the best thing for you to regain your strength."

As Reilly slowly picked through the food with her good left hand and began to eat, Erin pulled a chair over to sit next to her. "I was shot in the shoulder like that a few years ago," she told Reilly. "So I can sympathize with you."

Reilly nodded. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."

"Neither would I," Erin replied.

Before anything else could be said, there was a knock and the door opened to admit Henry with a bouquet of various colored roses. "Knock, knock," he said. "Mind if I join you?"

"Why? Am I coming apart?" Reilly asked.

"Funny," Henry said. "I think you've been spending to much time with my son. He's a smart aleck, too."

"Henry," Reilly said.

"That's me," Henry replied. He took her hand, still encased in a glove. "Thank you for keeping my son safe." When a tear fell from Reilly's eye, he reached out and wiped it away. "None of that now." He held out the flowers. "Mrs. Barnett said you love lilacs, but the season is wrong for that so I brought you some roses."

"They're beautiful," Reilly said as he set them on the table beside the bed.

"Can we come in now?" came a voice from the hall through the door that Henry had neglected to close.

Someone shushed him so Reilly called out, "Yes, come in."

Nikki came in followed by two boys a few years younger than she was. Nikki had a purple Mylar balloon festooned with get well soon while the boys had purple latex balloons with white get wells printed on them.

"Who are these handsome young men?" Reilly asked.

"I'm Jack," said the one with glasses. He pointed to his brother. "That's Shawn."

"Hi," she said and waved with the free hand.

"You got poison ivy like grandpa," Shawn said.

"Yeah, but I got it on my legs and feet, too," Reilly replied.

"Ouch," Shawn said. He held up the balloons. "These are for you."

Reilly smiled. "Thank you," she said. "Purple is my favorite color."

"That's what Grandpa said," Jack put in as he tied his balloons to the foot of her bed.

Shawn tied his to the spot where Jack had tied his as Nikki brought hers over and tied it around the vase on Henry's roses.

Past the roses, Reilly saw Danny and Jamie standing in the hall. "You guys can come on in if you want," she called out to them. "And bring Linda with you."

"I told you it would be fine," Danny said argumentatively.

"I never said it wasn't I just thought we should wait until she finished eating is all," Jamie replied.

Linda pushed her way in as Erin moved her chair back against the wall and slipped out the door. Checking Reilly's IV she said, "I'll chase them out if you need me to."

Reilly shook her head, "No, I think they're sweet."

"See," Danny said. "She thinks we're sweet." He leaned in to kiss her head. "Dad's down the hall in the waiting room. You want me to go get him?" He said quietly.

"Yes," Reilly said. "But don't forget to bring yourself back, too."

Danny turned to do just that only to find that Erin had beat him to it.

Frank stood in the door watching his family with amusement. His eyes met Reilly's and she shrugged with a smile.

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Frank's family had left and he pulled a chair up beside her. "How much longer do they want to keep you?"

"A couple more days," Reilly said. "Thanks for calming me down last night." She paused, remembering when she almost fell down the trap door the day before. "You really are my hero."

Frank grasped her hand and squeezed. "And you're mine."

Reilly smiled back and nodded to the partially open door. "He out there?"

"He always is."

"Have him come in for a minute," Reilly said.

Frank kissed the hand and stood to invite Jim to come in. Reilly winced at the bruise on his face. "That looks like it hurt."

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

"Danny said you have a cracked rib, too," she went on.

"Yes, ma'am," he repeated.

"Is your boss alive?"

He looked confused. "Yes."

"Did you go above and beyond to help make sure that wouldn't change?"

"So I'm told," Jim replied.

"Then it's not a failure."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good work, Jim," she finished. "You can go back to your post now."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied and returned to the hall.

Frank smiled. "You amaze me."

"I know," Reilly said with a smile.

Frank leaned down and kissed her, but this time it was, once again, on her lips and longer than the kiss in the cabin. "Goodnight Reilly," he said as he straightened back up.

"Goodnight Frank," Reilly replied.

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	8. Epilogue

Epilogue

"I thought it might be you," Jim said as he met Reilly at the security desk of 1 Police Plaza. "Let me take that."

Gratefully, she handed the package in her left hand to him and adjusted the jacket she had on. "Thank you," she said as Jim took it. He led her down a corridor to the elevators.

"I take it he doesn't know you're coming," Jim asked as they rode the elevator up.

"No," Reilly replied. They were silent for the rest of the ride up.

In the anteroom of the Commissioner's office, he introduced her to Frank's PA, Detective Baker before handing her the package back and returning to his desk across the room.

"He's not busy," Baker told her after shaking her hand. "I tell him you're here."

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"You have a visitor," Baker announced as she came in the room.

"Do they have an appointment?" Frank snapped, a little crusty from the phone call with the mayor he had had this morning.

"No," Baker answered. "Would you rather I have her come back later?"

"Her?" Frank's interest was piqued. Usually when a woman came to see him, it was scheduled or a family member. "No, send her in." He stood to move around the desk, then smiled when Reilly entered, thanking Baker as she did.

"Hello Frank," she said.

Winter had reared it ugly head in the few days since their not-so-little adventure and she wore a jacket over her slinged right arm. She carried something in her left hand that she set down at her feet when Frank reached to help her out of the jacket.

He hung the garment on the rack next to the door and turned back to her. Her hair was pinned up and she wore a simple black skirt and blouse in her favorite color of purple.

She picked the flat package up from next to her feet and handed it to him. He took it in one hand and grasped her now-empty hand to lead her to a seat on the couch.

"What's this?" he finally asked after placing it on the table and sitting in the chair.

"My entire collection sold except for this piece," Reilly told him, her eyes on the brown-wrapped package. "I held it in reserve because it is Mrs. Barnett's favorite and my favorite. I was intending to give it to her as a gift for her patronage." She looked up at him. "Mrs. Barnett insisted I give it to you."

Frank was silent for a moment. "I don't know what to say."

"Open it," Reilly said. "If you don't like it you don't have to display it."

"I'm sure I'll like it," Frank said as he smiled at her.

"You haven't even seen it."

"OK, I'm sure I'll hate it," Frank said.

"Your father was right," Reilly said with indignation. "You are a smart aleck."

Frank chuckled at her words and reached for the brown paper of the package. Sliding it to the side, he turned the elegantly framed artwork over and examined the colorful piece.

The colorful landscape was of a flat-topped mountain in front of a sky obviously meant to be a sunset or sunrise. In the foreground, was a field of green grass and crudely drawn red flowers.

"This is beautiful," Frank told her.

"You like it?"

He looked up at her. "I really do," he looked back at it. "I can see why it's your favorite."

Reilly smiled shyly and he could see the woman from the opening peeking through. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"I've got just the place for it," Frank stood and went to a shelf across the room from his desk. He rearranged the various medals and mementos around until he could place the small artwork. "What do you think?"

"It looks great there," Reilly replied and Frank came back over to sit next to her again.

"What do you have planned now?" Frank asked as he settled back into the chair.

"Well," Reilly began. "After the show at the Whitney, Mrs. Barnett was going to take me to Paris in the hopes of doing a show there. But that's been cancelled."

"Because of the injury?"

"Partly," Reilly said. "Also because I have no art to take to Paris. I have to create some more."

Frank smiled and shook his head. He watched her for a few minutes before asking, "Are you all right?"

"The doctor says my wound is healing just fine," Reilly said.

Frank shook his head. "I mean, are YOU all right."

She had known what he meant the first time he had asked the question.

"You've been so quiet since you came in."

She shrugged. "This place is just so, I don't know."

"Stuffy?" Frank said.

"Yeah," she replied. "Kind of."

Frank stood and held out a hand. "Let me show you something. But you have to close your eyes."

After a moment's hesitation, she placed her hand in his and stood before closing her eyes and letting him lead her. He positioned her in a specific spot by the window, characterized by a barely-perceptible wear spot in the carpet. With his hands on her hips, he leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Open your eyes."

Reilly opened her eyes to see the spectacular view out the window. She smiled. "Better?" Frank's voice was quiet in her ear.

"This must be spectacular at night," she breathed.

"It is," he told her. "This exact spot is where I look out and figure out the problems of the job."

Reilly turned and stepped back to put a bit of space between them as Frank released her. "I'm OK," she answered the question he'd asked earlier the gestures to the art she had given him. "The drawing. It's pastel."

"It is?" Frank was almost afraid to move lest he spook her.

She nodded. "The title that Mrs. Barnett gave it is, Indian Paintbrush at…," she trailed off and Frank simply watched her. "At Heart Mountain."

Frank nodded. "A mountain in Montana?"

"Northern Wyoming," she replied.

"Sounds familiar," he said.

"There was a Japanese Internment camp there during World War 2," Reilly told him.

"I think I read about it somewhere," Frank replied. He looked into her eyes. "Would you have dinner with me?"

"Yes." Her answer was as conversational as the rest of the conversation.

"Do you like pasta?" At her nod, he continued. "Or maybe we could go for steak.

"Steak sounds good," she replied. "I have yet to find a good steak here yet."

"I know a place," Frank replied. He pursed his lips. "Would it be alright if I kissed you?"

"Yes," she replied.

His kiss reminded her of his handshake at the opening, firm but gentle, but lasted much longer. When they parted he asked her, "Eight o'clock?" She nodded quickly and he kissed her again before stepping away.

"I hate to ask you to leave," he said.

"I hate to go," she replied. "But I have to." She adjusted the sling. "I'm having lunch with Mrs. Barnett and Henry."

Frank put an arm across her shoulder as he led her to the door. "Henry as in?" He took her jacket from where he had hung it and helped her back into it.

"Your father, yes," Reilly replied as she slid her arm into the sleeve. She turned to look at him again as he adjusted the jacket around her sling. "Their mutual worry brought them together."

Frank chuckled and shook his head. "I'll see you this evening?"

Reilly nodded. "I'll see you at eight," she kissed him one more time, short but sweet and turned to go.

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Well, There's the end of another story. I hope everyone liked it as much as I liked writing it. If anyone really liked my character of Reilly, maybe I'll write something else with her. I can only know by your feedback. :-)


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